Isolated Utopia
by Divock
Summary: Greg from the human world, through seemingly harmless actions, is brought to the Pokemon world and has to contend with larger-than-life conflicts involving, well, Pokemon. Obviously, right?
1. Chapter 1: Calamitous Curiosity

Greg rustled around in his seat, trying to find the most comfortable position. Greg eventually settled on slumping forward, his overgrown charcoal hair drooping over his eyes in the process. His father, chewing on bread, sighed, with bread crumbs spewing all over the table. "Can't you at least TRY to look nice?" his mom pleaded, giving him a nasty look.  
"What's the point?" Greg responded shaking the hair out of his hazel eyes, "No one else here knows us."  
"You never get a second chance at a first impression." she said sighing Greg rolled his eyes at this, then suddenly stood up from the white-clothed table, his pants' pockets buzzing a bit. He reached into his pockets and yanked out his cell-phone, still on vibrate. The green lights read, 'Dan.' I have to take this he thought. "Scuse me." he stated bluntly as he walked towards the entrance of the restaurant. He flipped open his phone and moved his thumb towards the green 'answer' button, but was halted by a yanking on the collar of his red and white shirt. "What do you think you're doing?" his mom asked.  
"Answering a call." Greg replied in monotone.

"Not at dinner. At least, not here." she ordered, reaching out her hand to yank the phone from his.

"Why not?" Greg asked. "I was heading outside."

"Because..." she started, but stopped when her eyes flicked to one side as she turned around. The waiter had made his way to the table and was waiting to take orders, with Greg's father, who had already ordered, motioning to the mother. She sighed and asked Greg, "What do you want?"

"Fetuccini Alfredo." he quickly replied, glancing down and noticing that his phone had stopped buzzing. His mom did not reply, instead rushing to the table to give both Greg's and her orders. Greg opened the mahogany door, which squeaked a bit, and exited the building to listen to the silence of the darkened outdoors. He flipped his cell phone open again and punched in the number of his friend, and held the phone to his ear. He whistled a jaunty tune while it rang, watching a car whizzing out of the parking lot, and another slowly drift in. A voice then answered on the other line. "Hello?"

"Hey Dan, it's Greg." Greg responded.

"Hey man, you got my call then?"

"Yup." Greg said happily. He moved to the side to allow three men and a woman into the restaurant, all dressed as nice as he was: Slacks, Polo, nice shoes, combed hair(at least in their case); the woman obviously was not dressed exactly like this. "What's the issue?" Greg continued.

"Oh, I just wanted to ask if you were still going to the movies on Saturday."

"I am, I'm getting back in a couple days, so unless something freaky happens, I should be fine."

"Awesome, we're going to sezzffssszjjzzzff..." Dan's voice fizzled and was cut off. Greg removed the phone from his ear, and stared at the service indicator. "Four bars." he said to himself. "Should be fine." He clutched his brick of a phone towards his ear, and all he heard was, "FFFZHSHSSCHCHSCHFHHH..." and other noises like that. Maybe someone's messing up his phone service or something. Then, what sounded like high pitched straining of metal resounded throughout the outside area. Greg flicked his eyes from side to side, vigilantly watching the area around him. "Anyone there?" he asked. He quickly regretted this. Of course, there's people in the restaurant, idiot. However, he was rewarded with yet a slightly lower pitch, but very similar sound. Greg again searched, moving back and forth from both ends of the restaurant. "Nothing..." he whispered quietly. He glanced down to notice that once again, his 'nice shoes' had become untied. "For the love of-" he mumbled as he bent down to tie the extremely short laces. For god's sake why are expensive shoes the ones that fall apart the easiest, I mean, at least they could give you decent laces. I just...huh? When he finished tying his shoes, the path of his eyes going back up was diverted when he noticed a rather peculiar object leaning against the wall. It was the shape of the ends of a magnet, a horseshoe magnet to be precise, with the expected blue and red sides to boot. Greg reached out to pick it up, very curious as to why it was here, and why it was so shiny. He nearly grabbed it, when all of a sudden, his phone vibrated. Greg reached back into his pocket, discontinuing his thievery, and flipped open his phone; a text message read, 'Dinnertime! Sorry about earlier : )' Greg sighed and smiled as he stood up, leaving the magnet be. He waved to a tall, suited man smoking a cigarette against the wall, who waved back apathetically. Then Greg walked back inside the restaurant, the soft, relaxing, and boring music flooding his eardrums. His seat was pushed in, with the plate of pasta emitting a very small amount of steam, barely visible to Greg. His mother smiled at him as he strolled towards the table and sat down to dig into his food.

Greg leaned back in his chair, having half-finished his dish. For such a fancy restaurant, the cuisine certainly was sub-par. He sighed and then his chair landed back forward with a loud "thud." He took the glass of water from the table and rotated it slowly in a horizontal ellipse. After it orbited once, Greg took this opportunity to monitor the area. Many various fancy couples, families, and miscellaneous occupied the restaurant, none of which probably spoke a lick of English, or if they did, it certainly was not their first language.

Eventually, Greg started restlessly moving around, from putting his hands to behind his back, to placing them on the table to drum silently, to putting them in his pockets to take and look at his phone. All the while he kept shifting from keeping his chair on four legs, to two legs. Each movement was sporadic and random. No pattern was there. His mind drifted off each time. He eventually halted his movements and pushed his chair away from the table to stand up, saying the words, "Bathroom. Be back in a sec." His parents smiled and resumed eating, being careful not to spill on their much more expensive dress clothes.

The water gently flowed from the mouth of the faucet, hitting the sink with an ever-so silent trickle. Greg rolled his eyes at this and pushed forward on the tab of the soap dispenser which was attached to the wall. The purple soap dribbled into Greg's hands, and he lathered them up reactively. The liquid turned into a foam-like appearance - white and bubbly - and Greg proceeded to wash it off immediately afterward. The door to the bathroom opened suddenly, and Greg felt the draft from the restaurant send a small chill down his spine, and the soft music filled his ears once more. Cold place...brrr... he thought. He slowed the washing of his hands, while the stern voice of the entrant filled the room. "Yeah I know!" it yelled, "You have to find it. It's crucial!" The door then silently shut, the music from the restaurant disappearing, and the voice of the man getting louder. "Yes, yes...just...I'll take care of it okay?" He walked behind Greg towards the end of the bathroom. The sound of the cell phone's ends clacking together shut was all that Greg heard before it was silent, save for the sound of the water in the pipes of the system that was covering his hands. Greg reached towards the handle to shut off the sink. There was no sound, and Greg heard his footsteps clonk against the floor, right before he grabbed the door handle. Before he could, a hand with a cloth entered his peripheral vision, and before he knew it, it was dark.

Greg woke in what he assumed to be a van. His vision was hazy, blurry, almost like he was near sighted. He saw two dark figures in front of him, and when he looked to his left, a less dark but somewhat human-like figure was next to him. There was no music playing in the car, so it was completely silent. Eventually Greg's vision cleared up and the dark figures in front were revealed to be car seats, and the person next to him was just that- a person. He was familiar to Greg, and the car seats in front of him happened to have heads sticking above them, and had an eerie sense of familiarity as well. "[Ah, awake I see.]" the voice next to him echoed. "[Good to know.]" Greg had no idea what he was saying, but the voice had a sense of sarcasm about it. The man had neat brown hair, combed and everything, and his suit was also tidy, albeit with a few wrinkles in it. Greg's memory was a little hazy, so he couldn't remember if he knew him or not. Great, someone's not happy about me. Oh who am I kidding, where the hell am I? Greg thought. He then decided to speak, albeit distorted a bit, "Whur thu hill em ah!" he tried to say.

The man in front of him chuckled, "[Guess our Super Chloroform did the trick eh?]"

"Wha?" Greg blurbed, still completely unaware of what was going on.

"[Quiet!]" the woman, who appeared to be in the drivers seat, yelled. Greg shrunk into his seat. He tried to move his arms, only to find that they had been tied up. Even then, they were numb.

"[What's the point?]" The man in the passenger's seat said, looking at the woman, "[Chances are he doesn't know what we're saying.]"

"[Don't take risks.]" the woman replied harshly. Her tone was strict, and it seemed as though she wanted no bullshit from anyone. DAMMIT, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE SAYING. Okay, mental regroup...I...I'm in a moving car...van...whatever. That's for sure. Greg looked outside, It's definitely nighttime. Okay. That's another fact. You're in a van with strange men...oh god...oh god...calm down...calm down... Greg's face started to sweat. No...don't panic. They can probably sense fear. Okay, have you seen these people before? I...don't...know...yes...? He took a closer look at the man beside him, That's the same guy who I saw in the bathroom...with the cell phone! He must have...yes! He has to be the one! He was one of the men who walked into the restaurant while I was talking to Dan!

"[Welp,]" a voice from the back said climbing into the remaining back seat from the back area of the moving van. "[The escapee has been completely secured.]" This man had blond hair, a lot messier than the other man, but still relatively neat compared to Greg's. It was longer than the other man's as well, nearing shaggy levels. His voice was calm, nearing content levels. Greg noticed something different however. That's the cigarette smoking man! From outside the restaurant, when I was trying to pick up that magnet, yeah that's him. The woman then decided to speak, "[We are reaching the destination, sleep him now.]" The voice was stern once more, as if ushering a command. The man on the opposite side grabbed a bottled...drink from the compartment, and it was at this point, that Greg realized something. Oh god, I'm really thirsty. The very sarcastic man handed the bottle over to the calm man, who then offered it to Greg. Greg tried to move his arms to grab the bottle, but to no avail. The calm man rolled his eyes and untwisted the cap. The aroma of the drink was intoxicating to Greg, a sweet smell, a live-giving smell, it was pure. Greg smacked his lips and opened his mouth. The calm man unwillingly poured the drink into Greg's mouth, around half of it. Greg stared off into the dark outside, the outline of the window fading into it, until all was dark once more.


	2. Chapter 2: Reintroducing Society

Greg did not wake up for hours, but his dreams were affected by the outside world; shaking and distorting with every change resulting in twisted nightmares. The dreams shifted radically back and forth, never holding a solid shape. Eventually, Greg woke from his hellish nightmare, blinking his eyes. Most of the area was dark, a small rectangle of light and life centered in his vision. Greg glanced to the left and right to notice walls on both sides, barely a foot in distance from each side. Greg turned his neck a bit and saw the outline of a box, a cardboard box to be exact. _Yes, definitely an alley._ Greg thought. The box was, upon closer inspection, big enough to contain him easily.

Greg assumed was located in some sort of town; there were people walking back and forth in nearly every second, but there weren't large groups of people either. Greg then shook his head and slowly crawled forward. It was at this point that his nose started to work again, and it reeked of the stench of garbage, mostly old food. He pushed his head downwards and clenched his eyes shut; probably not the best decision to point his nose towards the ground. When he opened his eyes, Greg saw his hand to be covered in some sort of yellow substance, and it didn't take much time to realize what it was. _Definitely. Definitely rotten mustard._ he thought, sighing.

When Greg looked up, he didn't see the street anymore, but rather a strange floating sphere. Upon closer inspection, the sphere had a glowing eye, and several attachments made to it. There were two "U" shaped appendages on its left and right, and what looked to be Phillip's head screws in the bottom left and right corners of the sphere, and on the top, a much bigger screw going into it. Greg froze into place, _Okay...what...what is this thing. Is it a robot? And for that matter, where AM I? What...what is this thing? I...I don't...I DON'T KNOW. It's...it's going to kill me isn't it. This...sphere...with magnets...and screws...it's going to shoot lasers at me. It's going to shoot something at me. Those magnets, they're a cover for guns aren't they? I-_ It was at this point that Greg's mind stopped making coherent sentences, barely even words, and ran off out of the alley into the street. It was simply a self-defensive reaction when he heard the mechanical wonder say, "MAG-NE-MITE."

Greg flew through the street, trying to dodge oncoming people and their strange pets. _Oh...oh GOD. WHERE THE HELL AM I? WHAT...WHAT ARE THESE THINGS? Pets? Animals? Robots? MONSTERS?_ Every now and then his mind would come back to a semi-reality, trying to regroup and think about what was going on, forming tangible and coherent thoughts, but it would quickly dissipate when a new "monster/pet/animal/robot" would appear in his vision. Greg kept flying past people over and over again, until finally reaching a somewhat-hospitable looking building. Upon analyzing it, Greg realized it had a red roof, a standout red roof, with a picture of a half-red, half-white circle on it. _Some...some sort of logo...this place may be safe...from those things..._ Greg noticed then what looked to be a pink-haired nurse walking into the building. _Could it be...maybe it's some sort of hospital. Maybe they can help..._ Greg followed the nurse into the building warily, keeping and eye out. Once he caught a glimpse of the inside of the "hospital," he froze into place. _Monsters...monsters...everywhere..._ he thought, surveying the room. Every person in the room was holding one of the weird pets he'd seen earlier.

Greg let out a loud, cacophonous shriek before bolting out of the building. It echoed throughout the center, and even throughout the town. It bounced off each building, and nearly every human being and creature looked up to listen to the unknown wail of torment. The scream was filled with shock, filled with pain, filled with disdain, and filled with distorted teen voice cracking. Greg skidded on the road and started running towards what he thought were trees. He wasn't sure anymore, but it was the only thing he recognized as 'real.' Weaving between the trees, he found a cluster of boulders and rocks, and leaped over them. The attempt was however, a failure, as his jump only got him so far. His ankle scraped the rock and caused him to land on the ground face first behind the rock instead of the intended roll and hide behind the rock maneuver. Greg cringed in pain as he brought his ankle to his attention. The blood seeped out of his ankle, the medium-sized cut was nothing to sneeze at. _Just...just my luck._ Greg tried to look around for any people attacking him. "Huff...huff..." he breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath, scraping the rotten mustard still smeared on his hand on a tuft of grass a few feet away. Then, he waited, but for what, he didn't know.

Five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed, Greg's wound had clotted, the blood hardening over where the injury was. _Maybe...maybe I should get up now. Ah...who am I kidding._ Greg shook his head, rubbing his forehead, _Where am I supposed to go? I don't even know where I am! Am I in hell? Did I die? Wait...my phone! Maybe its GPS can help me out..._ He reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone, its silver blankness still a comforting assurance that he was sane. He flipped it open and moved towards the GPS icon. He pushed the button to select it, and then his phone loaded the application up. Soon, it started to flash: "ERROR. ERROR." in bold, red letters. "Oh right, of course." Greg yelled angrily shutting his phone. "Grrrr..." he growled to himself.

"RRRR..." another voice echoed. Greg then widened his eyes once more. His hair started to stand up; he was getting goosebumps. Greg slowly lifted his head, and saw, about two feet away, some sort of strange dog. It was different than any other dog he'd seen before, Its fur was mostly bright orange, with black stripes on its belly, legs, and back, and tufts of cream colored fur on the top of its head, its tail, and what seemed to be a mane. Its ears seemed to be shaped like the outline of fists. "Awww..." Greg said, _Finally, some sort of...real...thing...maybe this isn't hell after all..._

"GROWLITHE!" it yelled, spitting a small orb of fire at him. Greg ducked, the orb of fire passing above his head into the rock, sizzling on contact. Greg lifted his head, and inspected the incinerating orb. He put his finger near it, and felt the heat emanate from it. _R-real fire...this...this is one of those hell hounds isn't it? I AM IN HELL AFTER ALL..._


	3. Chapter 3: Confrontation Conglomeration

Greg trembled with fear against the boulder, feeling the heat of the burning sphere near his left ear. The orange dog crept closer, growling even louder the closer it got, or maybe it was just sound waves hitting his eardrums at a closer distance. _Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down. CALM. DOWN. CALM DOWN. CALM THE FUCK DOWN. CALM, DOWN, CALM, CALM, DOWN. CALM, CALM, CALM, CALM, CALM...I'm...CALM...I'M...CALM...I'M...NOT CALM..._ Greg was about to snap, sweat was pouring down his face, his pupils were wobbling back and forth, and his breathing was nearly causing Greg to hyperventilate. Greg then held his hands up in front of his face, "N-n-nice...d-d-doggy..." he whimpered. The dog barked at him, a loud, "GROWL!" Greg, froze into place, and he could feel his heart beating faster and faster; thump, thump, thump, thump thump, thump thump, thump thump, thump thump. Greg closed his eyes, the dark washing over his vision, gritting his teeth as he waited to be roasted alive.

Before the dog lunged however, Greg heard what seemed to be the creaking of metal. He opened his eyes quickly and glanced to the right and left. _No...no lasers...no nothing...thank...thank...goodness..._ Then he saw the dog opened its mouth wider than he saw before. It started to fill with a fiery fluff of flames. _But THIS DOG IS GOING TO FIRE ITS...FIRE AT ME...NOT...GOOD..._ The moaning-of-metal sound was again audible for a brief moment, this time causing Greg to look upward; the direction of where the sound came from. Greg stared at nothing but a mostly clear sky; blue and everything save for about 3 clouds in his peripheral vision. The serene overhead was quickly interrupted by a more turbulent disturbance. It looked to be a wavering, spiky, stream of yellow energy. It rippled through the air, moving back and forth like a serpent, until it passed by. _Is that...lightning?_ Greg thought blankly. Then he heard a yelp of pain in front of him, and Greg lowered his head in response. The Growlithe was getting struck by the energy source, the seemingly electrical energy channeling throughout its body uncontrollably, shocking every bone to its core. "The...THE FUCK!" Greg yelped out loud. _Is...SOMEONE TRYING TO KILL IT...wait...good riddance...that thing was going to kill me! Wait, now it's distracted, maybe I can escape..._ Greg moved his leg and tried to stand up on it, but stumbled and smashed his knee into the boulder behind him. "GARGH" he yelped, falling face first on the ground once more. _Smooth move, I just hope whoever is ki-_ Greg halted his thoughts, having turned around. He spotted something very familiar in front of him. _That...that...that can't be...that can't be...no way!_ Now facing the hellish-demon-dog, was the magnet-screw-eyeball he saw earlier in the alley.

The robotic creature was floating in the air, like before, only this time, it was completely visible to Greg. Greg's mouth was agape. Greg's eyes were completely open. Greg's breathing was at a near standstill. _That...that robot...it's...it's facing that dog! But...but why?_ Greg asked himself, but there were no answers inside his clueless mind, so he simply watched. The robotic creature seemed to have full control over its magnets like arms, pointing the ends of the magnets towards the orange dog-creature. It then shook a bit, and its eye looked to become angry. _...EMOTION...that's...that's a good sign...I think..._ The magnets then fired a blue swarm of sparks at the enemy. The sparks wavered around in the air, moving up and down and up and down like transverse waves. "MAG-NE-MIIIITE!" a voice erupted from the robotic menace. _Blue...electricity...what...what the? And a voice? Maybe this thing is, I have no idea. What is this thing? Someone tell me what kind of delusional world I'm in._ The electricity seemed to wrap around the dog, encasing it like a lasso. The dog yelped in pain, its body now being squeezed together by the electricity. Then, the dog's eyebrows narrowed, and it opened its mouth once more. _NOT THE FLAMES..._ Greg panicked, being directly behind the creature. "W-wait! Don't!" Greg yelled, trying to stand up. His knee protested, sending multiple signals of pain towards Greg's brain. Greg cringed, and put his weight on his other foot, turning his right side towards the boulder, and then supporting his balance by leaning on the boulder behind him. Greg was able to move before he heard what sounded like a fire-extinguisher expelling its agent. He turned his head to see that the hell-puppy had released a long stream of what looked to be raw fire towards the robotic magnet-containing organism. When in the burning surge struck the levitating sphere of magnetism, the sphere released its lasso of blue electric strings, and the orange-flame-hound broke free, standing on all fours with a proud stance.

The flames also had the side effect of pushing the sphere of magnetism into the boulder, the colliding force caused sparks to fly from the colliding metal and bounce off onto Greg's leg, shocking him a tad. Greg twitched a bit, lifting his leg and quickly putting it back down. _That dog can shoot fire. That sphere can control electricity. I am a somewhat crippled boy. Why the hell do I feel an urge to help that sphere? Just run! RUN. RUN AWAY. I have the opportunity, but I'm insisting on taking revenge instead; for a robotic...thing...that...saved...me..._ Greg then pointed his eyes towards a grapefruit sized stone. _Oh FINE. If I'm going to do this,_ Greg thought hoisting up the somewhat-heavy rock, _I might as well do it properly._ Greg took the stone, and put his arm back in a throwing position, akin to that of a baseball pitcher. "TAKE THIS YOU FUCKING FIRE FIEND!" Greg yelled tossing the stone like a baseball. It flew in a straight beeline for the dog's body, slightly off of where he was aiming. The hound's eyes caught the lobbed rock, and it appeared to attempt to dodge out of the way, closing its mouth to shut off the flow of flames and tensing its muscles in some sort of preparation. It was too late however, and the dog was struck in its middle. The stone embedded itself into the dog's body and transferred its momentum accordingly, launching it off its feet about half-a-foot. The dog landed on its other side, seemingly unmoving. Greg's breathing was deep and full, but not very strong; he had used up a lot of his energy running and panicking. _I...I did it. Yeah. Take that you stupid...stupid fire dog._ Greg took a step away from the rock, and his knee buckled, now in serious pain. "GYAAAARGH!" he yelled, stumbling forward. Greg then lost his balance and tried to hold on to the giant boulder, but his feet had already left the ground, and the boulder was vacant of any good grip. Greg then landed on what he thought was a medicine ball, but then revealed itself to be a lot more dangerous. Greg felt a surge of vibration flow throughout his body, and as the pain started to emerge, Greg blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4: Forced Camoflauge

Greg's mind started to stir once more; absorbing a slurry of incomprehensible speech as a greeting to his departure of dreams.

"[It's very convenient.]"

"[I guess; I don't know much about them anyway.]"

"[Not many people do anymore. But then again, no one really ever talks about them either.]"

"[Any idea why that is?]"

"[Lack of emotional responses in both parties. It's simple really. Not easy to figure out, but simple.]"

"[Ah.]"

"[Sad really, got a light?]"

"[No, and you can't smoke back here.]"

"[Of course, my apologies. So when can I speak to him?]"

"[He's out.]"

"[You treated his wounds though right? What exactly happened?]"

"[Yes. His knee was a bit bruised, a cut on the same leg, and his body was a bit surged with some electricity. Nothing too serious.]"

"Chansey!"

"[Of course, always the helpful one aren't you? Electricity?]"

"[He was brought in by a trainer, and he said something about a Pokemon-]"

"Chansey?"

"[Go check up on our patient okay Chansey?]"

"Chansey!"

"[Continue Joy, please.]"

Greg heard this conversation go on between unknowns while he was regaining consciousness. He tried to understand it, but his efforts were in vain. _What...what's going on. Weak, weak, I feel, weak, also confused. What should I even be focusing my energy on? Oh, duh._ Greg opened his eyes, and light poured in from the outside. It was, to him, blinding at first; he had been asleep for a while. The ceiling tiles were white and smooth, causing the color splotches to blend together. Greg then looked at his body; and to his shock and awe, he was in the clothing he was in before, but his knee's cut had been stitched up, and all the pain was gone from both it and his 'bashed' knee. Greg then noticed something in his peripheral vision, and moved his pupils to the right. A pink, stubby armed, egg-shaped creature was walking towards the surface Greg was laying on. Upon its head, where there seemed to be long strands of thick hair, was a nurse's hat, and on its lower stomach, was pouch containing an egg. Greg stared at it as it came closer, and then upon face-to-face confrontation, the creature happily cheered, "Chansey!"

"Chance...ee?" Greg mumbled, himself confused.

"Chansey!" it repeated. Greg sighed, _I...I give up. This world can throw whatever the hell it wants at me at this point. Magnet Robots. Fire Dogs. Egg Nurses. What's next? Electric Rats? Living Bombs? Walking Trees?_ "Yes..." Greg tried and successfully achieved lifting his upper torso from the pillow he was resting on. "Chance-y I was indeed, trying to fight off a fire breathing dog and a robotic menace. I was lucky to have survived."

"Chanse?" it replied.

"By chance all that happened? Hell if I know." Greg hopped off the bed and stretched his limbs, a surprisingly easy feat. He scratched the back of his head and blinked his eyes a few times. His vision was completely clear now, and he was surveying the room; and it looked to be that of a hospital room, with beds and medical equipment. The pink, blobby creature was smiling and looked to be waiting for something. "[Oh, he's awake!" a female voice called out. The Chansey turned, waved, and nodded while yelling out to the nurse, "Chansey!" Greg still had no idea what to think of both of the two, having understood zero percent of it.

"[Ah, give me a moment will you?]" A somewhat familiar yet still completely unintelligible voice. Greg looked up, and nearly dropped his jaw, but bit his lip to prevent it from doing so. The man sitting two seats from him on the previous van ride, was in plain sight. Greg's hands trembled in fear as he tried to muster up the strength to call out the strange man before he could depart, which he appeared to be doing. Next to him was the red-headed nurse he saw earlier, before the robot incident. "W-wait!" Greg finally called out, reaching out his hand. The Nurse turned towards him and smiled contently. "[Feeling better?]"

"I don't have time for your games! I need to talk to that guy!" Greg barked, pointing at the departing man.

"[I'm sorry?]" the nurse asked, completely confused.

"[Keep him busy.]" the mysterious man said, now barely visible.

"Hey! Get back here!" Greg yelled flailing his arms about like a crazed chicken.

"Sit still." the man sternly replied. Greg froze in place, his arms out like an airplane. He stood completely still, sweat forming on his brow and slithering down his face. _He can speak...English...but...I...must...not...panic..._ he thought, constantly repeating the last thought over and over. The nurse looked and examined the distraught Greg, flickering her eyes about, while Greg stared at her, slowly lowering his hands to waist position. "[Everything...feeling...all right?]" she asked.

Greg looked at her quizzically, and said, "Uh...yes...?" while nodding.

"[Wonderful!]" she said clapping her hands together.

"Oh...kay..." Greg replied, somewhat with confusion. _Hopefully she said something like...'excellent," or 'wonderful,' otherwise...otherwise..._ "[Back!]" Greg snapped to attention, looking straight ahead at the oncoming familiar face. The mystery man was holding in left hand a backpack, and in his right hand a duffel bag. "[Good thing I had these ready..." he chuckled a bit, looking at the nurse. "[Can you leave us two alone for a second?]"

"[Oh...sure...he seems to be fine.]" the nurse happily replied, heading back towards the direction that the mysterious man had come from. The mystery man then directed his attention towards Greg, and tossed him the duffle bag, "Open it."

"Wh-what!" Greg sputtered.

"Open it." the man repeated.

"I need to ask you someth-"

"Open it." The man repeated again. The man was neither harsher, nor louder than his previous statement, but the eyes had narrowed in on Greg. Greg nodded in response, and gulped. He reached his hand towards the zipper, and pulled it open slowly, every second looking up to make sure the man hadn't pulled a gun on him or one of those beasts. Greg pulled the bag's sides open once it was fully unzipped, and raised his eyebrows at what he saw.

Greg saw what appeared to be a new pair of jeans, a red jacket, a black shirt, a red cap with some logo on the front, and a new pair of sneakers. "What...what is all this?"

"New threads." the man replied pulling out a cigarette.

"I figured that." Greg replied, "But WHY?"

"You'll blend in a bit better." The man dug out a lighter from his pocket, presumably obtained from his excursion.

"And why do I need to do th-"

"Don't ask." the man flicked the lighter switch and lit his cigarette.

"Okay..." Greg said back. He stood completely still, staring blankly at the duffel bag. "Oi! I didn't ask you to change here. Go somewhere else!" the man yelled, his voice somewhat muffled by the cigarette in his mouth.

"Oh...sorry!" Greg replied, frantically looking around for a place to change. The mystery man sighed, and pointed behind Greg; therein being a restroom for him to change in. Greg took no time at all in noticing the man's pointing finger, and hurried off into the restroom to change. "Wait!" the man said. Greg froze. "Almost forgot. Take this too." the man threw the backpack from his right hand towards Greg. Greg fumbled the backpack with one hand before clasping the top handle before it could tumble to the ground. Greg then opened the restroom door and quickly slipped inside, slamming the door shut. "It's okay, just go with it." Greg said to himself. It was a seemingly calming thought, but a deceivingly malevolent one as well. He used the words as a bridge, connecting him from one side of the almost-bottomless gorge that was this dangerous situation. Each word connected a part of a bridge, however, the gorge kept getting wider and wider, and Greg had to repeat the words in his mind, and the bridge, though growing along with the gorge, were weakening in strength. The words were not made of strong material, rather flimsy in fact. It was a bit rickety, and the knots tying them together were not completely tight and at one point, Greg even stepped through one of the words, it breaking apart under his weight. Greg saw, amidst the fog and haze, that a pink, bubbling river composed of the words "Panic" flowed endlessly in what seemed to be the bottomless pit of despair and agony. Somehow finding more terror in this, Greg clung to his mental ropes, and pulled himself up, and continued his crossing of the gorge.

Greg looked in the mirror, and raised an eyebrow. "That's...different." he mumbled. He was a bit put off about his current situation, now having changed clothes completely. He observed his stature, staring deeper and deeper into the mirror. He eventually shook his head, and gently pushed the door open, poking his head out like a turtle out of its shell. The room was completely vacant. Then he picked up the duffle-bag and backpack behind him and departed the restroom. Greg held his breath as he creeped towards an open door - what he assumed to be an exit. The exit turned out to be a white hallway. At Greg's right was a dead end, so he had no other choice but to walk left.

At the end of the exit hallway, Greg reached a much more lively area. Sofas, a television, various phones, phones that were hooked up to televisions, computers, and various other devices. The room was for the most part a clamorous mish-mash of mostly teenagers and a few adults, either chatting with one another or performing various tasks such as letter writing or eating. The audible noise was that of many ongoing conversations and what seemed to be a radio station playing upbeat techno. Greg's eyes were flittering around the room, trying to find the strange mystery man he had seen before. _Gah, it's like trying to find a long lost brother in a foreign city. Which this is. Don't, don't go there._ Greg carefully put the backpack's straps on his back while he surveyed the room, and then slinging the duffle bag around his shoulder. Greg's expression transformed from vigilant to irritated as the mystery man was no where to be found, although it was mostly a cover to hide his discomfort from the various non-human beings in the room.

Greg wasn't fond of most of them. Hate was probably the wrong word, but he felt uneasy. Some of them looked very natural, others looked like creepy science fiction experiments, and others looked like other-worldly creatures from a fantasy story. When Greg's expression changed, a younger boy dressed in a similar getup with what looked like a walking plant saw the troubled teenager that was Gregory Polman. "[Hey!]" the younger boy waved to Greg. Greg paid no attention, having tuned out all of the speech around him he had now deemed, 'gibberish.'

"[Hello!]" the younger boy repeated, a bit louder this time over the clamor of voices. Greg continued to ignore him, having no idea what the word meant and not even noticing the gestures. The younger boy sighed and ran over to Greg in his line of vision. "[HEY!]" the boy shouted, now in Greg's face.

"Uh...what?" Greg mumbled, his attention now diverted.

"[You weren't answering me.]" the boy replied.

"Oh great. This game again." Greg replied, sick of the deciphering he'd been having to do.

"[What?]"

"What?"

"[What?]"

"Bellsprout!" interrupted the plant creature. Greg shifted his eyes downwards, closed his eyes, and inhaled. A couple seconds later, he opened his eyes and exhaled, "Oh, one of you...things..."

"Bellsprout!" it replied, nodding.

"Wait, what?" Greg scratched his head.

"Bell." it smiled, or something along those lines. It's tube-like mouth was not, in Greg's eyes, meant for smiling. Greg shook his head. _This is getting me nowhere._

"[Hey kid, I'll take it from here eh?]" a voice familiar to Greg once more rang out in the Pokemon Center. Greg turned to the mystery man, he opened his mouth to say something, before the mystery man held up his index finger vertically in front of his lips. Greg closed his mouth. The mystery man turned to the other kid once more and nodded, while the kid responded with a nod of his own, and motioned to his plant creature. The two left the scene, while the mystery man turned to Greg. "They're called Pokemon."

"What?" Greg asked, now focusing all of his attention on the mystery man.

"These creatures. They're called Pokemon." he repeated.

"How can you-"

"Just...go with it, okay?" the man said holding out his hand flat.

"...sure..." Greg said.

"Listen." the man explained, "I don't have much more time left to dawdle, I need you to do me a favor."

"Why the hell should I?" Greg shouted at him, "I'm in a strange city I know nothing about, surrounded by creatures I know nothing about, and I don't know anyone else who speaks English! How the HELL am I supposed to, do anything?"

"Use your common sense. It's something many people fail to use these days." the mystery man smiled. Then, the front pocket on his tuxedo started to vibrate violently. The mystery man reached into the pocket and pulled out what looked like a beeper. "[Knew it.]" he said.

"I don't know what's going on..." Greg murmured.

"It's fine." the mystery man said, "Just, if you have any trouble with some Pokemon," he about-faced. "There are some 'tools' for you to use in the front pocket of your backpack." The word "tools" was emphasized with a semblance of trust, as if he thought Greg knew what they were. Greg arched his eyebrows, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Try and figure it out for yourself, huh?" the man said walking out of the building, sliding doors opening as he drew closer. Greg hesitated for a bit, but then sprinted off after him. "No you don't! Get...back...here!" Greg charged forward through the receding then re-opening doors, about to jump in front of the man, when the mystery man's hand appeared from his pocket, clutching what looked to be a baseball sized sphere split into too colors by a horizontal line, red on top, white on bottom, with a button facing Greg. The man pushed the button of the ball, and hinges sprung open to reveal a flash of light behind him. Greg covered his eyes with his hand, and when he could see clearly, he froze in place. The creature before him was a Pokemon, Greg knew this to be true, but it terrified him, with good reason. It was purple, and it floated in the air; suffice to say, it resembled a phantom. It had a toothy-grin, its hands were disembodied; completely free floating away from the body. The body consisted of a giant head with eyes, pointed teeth, spikes, and ears, and a very hard-to-notice tail. "Hauntah!" it yelled at him, smiling with a sinister look on its face.

"M-m-move...out...of the way...p-p-p-p-please!" Greg stammered, attempting desperately to move from his current position.

"[Return Haunter!]" the mystery man's voice called out. A strange laser sound passed through Greg's ears before the floating ghost Pokemon was surrounded in a red light. The Pokemon then shrunk into a red laser and detracted into a ball held by the mystery man, who now sat in the seat of a crimson automobile. The mystery man then shut the door to the car, which in return sped off into the distance. Greg sighed. _No...no way I can catch up with that._ Greg gritted his teeth and turned around to enter the somewhat crowded building once more.

Greg wandered in warily, paranoid of watching eyes and other malevolent specters such as the one he saw before. _That...that ball...it...it...entrapped that...ghost...thing..._ Greg thought to himself, his mind in a tizzy. He found an empty table to sit at, somewhere in the corner. Greg took the backpack from his back, having to stand up to do so, and placed it on the table. His hands trembled as he unzipped the front pocket. Once it bulged open, Greg peered inside to find what looked to be marble-sized replicas of the ball held by the mystery man. "Tools?" Greg questioned out loud, a bit of snark glazing his voice. _Tools. Right._ He used his index and thumb to pick up one of the small, pebble sized, things. _What am I supposed to do with this?_ Greg thought to himself, trying to work the little wonders. He pushed the white button on the line separating the two colors, and suddenly, the ball enlarged itself, enough to be that same size the mystery man's ball had been. Greg instinctively, decided to push the button again, this time causing the ball to pop open. _This...some kind of weird...device...?_ Greg analyzed the innards, various tiny circuits, but mostly a hollow mechanical sphere. Greg shut the ball manually, and pushed the button once more, causing it recede back into its original shape. He blinked a few times, staring blankly at it as he rolled it around in his palm.

Greg left the building with a somewhat positive smirk on his face. _It's all or nothing now!_ he thought, rushing off into a random direction.

Greg found himself in a similar, if not the same park as before, when he came to analyze his new surroundings. There was a surplus of trees, rocks, and tall grass. For the most part however, Greg was admiring the bench laid in a particularly sunny part of the park. Greg happily strolled over towards it, Having finally experienced something remotely peaceful and much more like home, Greg sat down with a delighted sigh. _Oh shit, my cell phone!_ he suddenly thought. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his lesser model of a cell phone, and flipped it open. The bars were full, and Greg started to dial the number of his parents. However, the familiar sound of bending metal was channeled through Greg's ears. _...no...it can't be..._ Greg continued to dial, the number sequence almost having reached 10 digits. The sound rang through the air again, Greg spotted something gray in his peripheral vision. "Ergh..." Greg grumbled, moving the phone to his ear and closing his eyes. "MAG-NE-MITE!" the mechanical menace moaned as Greg's signal went down the toilet. "Fuck." Greg spat. He looked to his right, and saw the floating sphere, magnets and all. "You again." Greg growled, "I think." The sphere simply nodded, or rather, hovered up and down, as its single eye making a motion as if happy. "MITE!" it buzzed.

"Ugh." Greg said, he bent forward, and flipped his backpack from his back onto his lap, and took out one of the small 'tools' entrusted to him by the mystery man. He pushed the button twice, once to enlarge it, and the second time to open it. He then thrust his hand forward towards the magnet-sphere, yelling, "HYAH!" Nothing happened. The magnet-sphere simply stared at him blankly, while Greg did the same. "Err..." Greg closed it, and analyzed it. _It is just a replica, a very expensive replica. Still, it'll do as a makeshift distraction._ Greg stood up, zipping up his backpack, placing it on his back, and easing backwards in a different direction. "Take this!" Greg barked leaping back and throwing the ball at the sphere-magnet before quickly turning around and about to rocket off into the distance. However, the sound of metal on metal was actually quite different than Greg had imagined, and there were added sounds as well. _Did...did I mess up? How the heck could I have messed up THROWING SOMETHING AT IT!_ Greg craned his neck, turning to see what had happened. The sphere-magnet was gone, and the 'tool' was right-side up on the ground. However, the 'tool' had started to violently shake back and forth, the button in the center now a red dot. After a few tense moments with Greg, instead of ditching the ball, watching to see the outcome, the ball ceased moving, and a little, 'ding' sound was the last audible thing until the park was again overcome by silence. Greg worked up the courage to stumble over towards the ball, and slowly pick it up. _...what...the...what is going on?_ Greg thought, raising the ball to eye level. _What have I gotten myself into?_


	5. Chapter 5: Intrusive Ambience

Desperate though Greg was to get out of this world and leave these crazy creatures behind, he couldn't bring himself to chuck the now imprisoned machine...Pokemon? His head was spinning, unable to grasp the fact that this weird magnet sphere had anything in common with the sentient plant back in the hospital, much less classified together. _What should I do?_ He asked himself, blindly traveling down a pathway.

Greg found himself walking down the reverse path, once again, of what he had previous traveled. The city he had once traveled through, now nearly somewhat familiar to him, still bustled with life. It was at this point that Greg finally looked up into the sky, shielding his eyes before briefly glancing at the sun. _Sometime around one o' clock I'd suppose, but who knows how time works around here? Oh wait! Maybe now I can try my cell phone, hopefully this...thing...cancels out the interference._ He looked at the sphere, still in his hand, and tried to put it in his pocket. The grapefruit-sized sphere, he realized, would never fit in his new jeans. He sighed, and moved his backpack from his back to his front, and opened the biggest pouch, and plopped the tool inside. He heard an odd clank sound, and peered inside the compartment, squinting a bit; the ball had barely dropped a few inches. _Something else is in there. No...make that somethings._ Greg quickly zipped it back up and moved on.

Greg left the city once more to find himself in a rather different route than before, a wide open space to his left, whereupon closer inspection ended in the blockade of an enormous mountain, while on the right side, an army of trees, each standing vigilantly. Greg took notice of the trees, and weaved through some of them until he found a decent puddle of shade. He leaned back against it, exhaling a held-in breath as he slid down. While he descended, he shook his hair, at that point shining with sweat, and as a result spraying the surrounding grass with the pungent substance. _That's good shade._ Greg thought, pulling his backpack to his lap and unzipping the top part. "Lessee here..." he mumbled to himself prying open the bag and analyzing the contents within. Greg felt something smash against his chin and knock his head into the tree behind him. "OW. SONOVA..." Greg yelled, pulling his head forward and rapidly swishing his eyes back and forth trying to locate the culprit. "MAG-NE! MAG-NE-MITE!" a voice from above started resounding relentlessly. "There...you are...what the..." Greg looked up at the creature, then back down at the bag, noticing the open red and white sphere, "So...this thing...it...let you out." Greg looked back up, "Surprised you didn't tear the bag apart. Thanks for...not doing that."

"MITE!" it replied, floating down to Greg's eye level.

"What exactly are you? I mean, you're a Pokemon but..."

"MAG-NE-MITE!" it happily replied, lifting its side-magnets akin to using arms, and waving them around moving back and forth.

"Mag, ne, and mite. That's all you can say?" Greg inquired, swishing his palm out and raising one of his eyebrows. Greg half-expected the creature to say "Nope," just to give him a reason to freak out again, but surprisingly to him, the magnet-Pokemon hovered up and down. Greg picked up the sphere from the backpack and analyzed it. _So if this thing isn't a replica, this creature got captured by it, and I own it, does that mean, I own this creature? No, that can't be right. I don't own it. I just, own it's secondary home or something. Yeah, that's right, but does it listen to me?_ Greg sighed a bit before looking directly at the magnet Pokemon again, who in response emitted that metal-bending sound he had previously heard a few times. _Uh, new question, does it obey me? Or rather, does it even understand me?_ "So...let's see...if you understand, then float above my head." The still-strange-to-Greg being seemed to nod as it slowly levitated to a position deemed correct by Greg. Once above his head, a metal-bending sound seemed to comply the position. "Oh. Great." he blurted sarcastically. _What am I complaining about? This thing is listening to me! Is it like my pet or something now?_ "What else can you do? I mean, besides float." Greg asked, moving his backpack and duffel bag to opposite sides of the tree behind him. Greg started to stand, awaiting the creature's response, whatever form it might end up in.

The creature stared back at him quizzically, slowly going to marginally below eye-level, slightly rotating its body horizontally at the same time. "Uh...that is, what, you know, uh..." Greg droned, his voice fading towards the end of the non-sentence. The creature's eye kept innocently staring back at him, while its body pulsated calmly. Its magnets, which Greg had come to terms with as arms, wiggled a bit every now and then. Greg couldn't help it, and smiled. "I don't know what you are, but..." he reached out his hand to touch the creature, who flinched a bit in response, and froze. His breathing halted as well, and his eyes locked with the creature, Greg's hand being the only visible entity in motion, only made possible by erratic quivers. Greg then let out a huge exhale, and dropped his hand to his side. "Never mind." he slumped, sliding on the back of the tree back onto his butt. The creature, now above him, tilted its body forward, staring down towards Greg with its curious and single eye. Greg had his face in his hands, his fingers spread out and gripping his forehead. "Argh...what am I doing..." he mumbled. The creature lowered its body, descending down to Greg's range of vision. "MAG?" it questioned. Greg released his hands to his legs, and jerked his head up and voluntarily blinked.

"What?" Greg asked, eyes narrowed. The Pokemon was silent, although it floated backwards a bit, the screw in the top of its head vibrating a bit. Suddenly a faint sound, similar to a voice, made its way into Greg's ear. He then flickered his eyes back and forth, searching for the source. A different sound then infiltrated his ears, a much briefer sound, and a less familiar one; much like an axe through wood, but much more airy. Greg leaned around the base of the tree, then sprang up to his feet, unsatisfied with the limited view. Greg circled the tree and vigilantly scanned the surrounding area. _Nothing._ he thought. A couple seconds later, he heard that voice again, a bit louder, but what it said was incomprehensible. Almost in reaction to the voice, three seconds later, the airy-axe sound, again and louder, briefly popped. This time, the sounds didn't end there. Instead, the intermittent sounds of crunching leaves and rustling branches revealed themselves to Greg and the magnet-creature. Greg bit his lip, his teeth trembling on the mucosa as he flared his nostrils. "Where are you..." Greg mumbled to himself. His eyes shifted to the top of the tree ten feet diagonally forward-left of him, following a severed branch plummeting to the dirt below. The previously heard voice spoke out again, this time Greg heard nearly every word of it; and he recognized it was a female. _What the hell is she saying?_ Greg pondered, awaiting the airy-axe sound.

Instead, he saw a brief glimpse of its source. A swarm of bladed leaves swiftly sliced through the previously looked at tree and flew towards him. Greg flinched, unable to react quick enough to jump or duck out of the way of the oncoming projectiles. However, something sped from the corner of his eye, and in the nick of time, smashed into the oncoming leaf. Greg blinked a bit, and waggled his head. A foot in front of him, he saw the back of a silver orb, and upon looking on both sides of it, he saw the two magnets. "You...why?" was all that Greg could blurt out before watching it quickly collapse to the ground, a couple scratches on the metallic surface of the creature. Greg started to bend down towards the creature, but then the familiar voice once again struck his ears. "[Good job Chikorita!]" Greg craned his neck up towards the source of the voice. The tree in front of him leaned to the left, and then collapsed on the ground, striking with a loud thud. Behind the tree, there stood a girl of about his age, possibly younger, bending down to pet another odd creature. "[Extra power really helps doesn't it?"]

"Chika!" it squealed, smiling. The creature, presumably another Pokemon, was a mint green color, and in comparison to the girl, it was very small. The creature had enormous oval eyes and a necklace of darker green...spheres...Greg had no idea what to call them. The most notable aspect to Greg was the giant leaf, the same color as the spheres sprouting from the top of its head, fanning up and down in rhythm. It was a quadruped; containing four nubs for legs (that seemed to support its body fine) and a nub for a tail. Its head blended into its neck, not having much definition between the two, ending in a curved scalp where the leaf sprouted.

Greg then turned his attention to the girl with slightly below-average height, petting the green Pokemon and laughing a bit. Greg wavered his eyes back and forth from the girl and the green Pokemon, to the magnet Pokemon on the ground. Greg trembled for a short time before turning around and dashing in a different direction. After Greg departed the scene, the girl turned her attention from her Chikorita to the seemingly unconscious Pokemon on the ground. "[Hey...Chikorita, look at this.]" she pointed at the still Pokemon. "[Is that a Pokemon?]" Magnemite opened its eye, and floated an inch off the ground.

Greg frantically ran out of the forest, terrified for his life. His breaths were quick and deep. _That...little thing...it must have...fired those blades! I can't...I can't stay near it! That thing...is danger- SHIT!_ Greg skidded to a stop and u-turned. He ran right back into the forest, the overhanging vegetation towering over him once more. Greg stopped at the tree where he had left his backpack and duffel bag. "There. There it is." he wheezed aloud. He snatched up the duffel bag and put it on his shoulder, then twisted about the tree to the other side, where his open backpack lied. Greg kept on nosily breathing, picking up the backpack and slinging it over his shoulders. In the haste to get out of the forest, the open red and white sphere fell out of the pocket of the backpack. Greg heard the clunk of the object, and turned to its position on the ground.

"[Razor Leaf it!]" the girl shouted, putting her hands in her blue-jean pockets. The mint-green Pokemon rotated its head and swung it forward on the forward motion, its leaf swinging as well and releasing a swarm of semicircular bladed leaves. The magnet Pokemon evaded the attack, floating vertically into the trees above. "[That won't work!]" the girl grinned, "[Chikorita, Magical Leaf!]"

"Chika!" it chirped, swinging its head once more in a repeated motion. The leaves that manifested glittered rainbow white sliding through the sky and homing in on the fleeing metallic Pokemon. The swarm reached and struck the magnet Pokemon dead on, causing it to plummet. The girl tipped her blue bucket hat up a bit to glimpse the spiraling helplessness. "[Excellent.]" she smiled, reaching into her pocket to exhume a red and white sphere. She pushed the central button to enlarge the ball, and winded her arm back. "[GOOOO-]"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"[What the?]" The girl turned her head and was taken aback at the charging boy coming towards her, or at least, he appeared to be. His angle was slightly off, instead heading for the falling creature she had just commanded to strike down. She arched her eyebrows and growled, "[Oh, don't you even THINK about it!]" She then catapulted the ball from her hand, releasing it with a significant velocity behind it. Greg shook his head and dove for the Magnemite, tucking the creature into his body and rolling along the dirt. The red and white ball struck Greg's back as he tucked in, and Greg made a low and brief grunt sound. When Greg reached the end of his roll, he sprang up to his feet, and dug into his pocket. The girl, to say the least, was shocked, her mouth agape at the intruder. Greg pulled out the red and white sphere from before, now the size of a golf ball. He pushed the button in the center, and it swelled back to orange-size. "[Hey you!]" the girl shouted, her voice harsh and piercing, "[That's MY Pokemon!]" Greg ignored her, despite the fact that he couldn't understand her anyway. "[HEY!]" she yelled. Greg responded with something unexpected to the girl. "Return..." A red beam of energy shot from the red and white ball, and struck the unconscious magnet Pokemon, covering it in the red energy, and morphing the physical structure of the Pokemon into the red energy, and sucking it all into the ball. Greg smiled as the final remnants of the energy went into the ball, and pushed the button, shrinking it back into an easy, maneuverable size. Greg tucked the ball into his pocket and nodded, then turned his eyes towards the appalled girl a few feet away. "[Oh...so that was...your Pokemon...]"

Greg turned his entire body towards her, "You...bitch..." he spat.


	6. Chapter 6: Unorthodox Camaraderie

Greg seethed with anger, grinding his teeth and flaring his nostrils. The girl wavered with perplexity, "[Whoa, whoa, whoa, you all right? It's just...it's not...]" the girl sputtered.

"SHUT IT!" Greg blasted, lifting his trembling left hand to point, "YOU WILL-"

"[What?]" the girl burbled, "[I can't understand you!]"

"I DON'T SPEAK YOUR FREAKY DEEKY DUTCH!" Greg ran at the girl, charging full steam ahead.

"[WAAAH!]" the girl frantically brought her arms to her sides, searching for something specific on her belt, "[CHIKORITA! GRASS KNOT HIM!"]" she shrieked, backing away.

"Chi?" it chirped, a questioning tone in its voice. It shook its head in denial and put a foot forward. Its ruby eyes shifted to neon green, emitting a faint shine to the close observer. The pupils pointed towards the patch of grass in front of Greg, enchanting the long strands. The strings of grass weaved and twisted into two separate cords on opposite horizontal sides of Greg's near-future position. The animated vegetation wavered towards one another and looped tightly, stiffening about a foot above the ground. Greg's head was shaking before he found his feet ensnared by an unknown force, collapsing to the ground and face-planting. "FSOM MFOF FA FITSH!" Greg shouted into the grass currently surrounding his face.

"[Body Slam, keep him down!]" the girl commanded, circling around him. He craned his neck up, spitting out the slivers of grass in his mouth. He was a couple feet away from the girl's initial position, who had started circling around him. "Oh no you don't!" Greg placed his palms on the grass, and then a pressure forced his head back into the vegetation. "MPH." Greg gargled the foliage, struggling to lever his head vertically for an easier respiratory position. He flapped his arms around like an immature chick, attempting to find some sort of reasoning behind his constraints. His hands finally landed on the source, some sort of soft body. He immediately latched onto the cause, whatever it might be, and, lifted it into the air a decent height to allow his body to recoil backwards. He gasped for air, inhaling deep gusts and exhaling with rapid velocity. Then he took a look at the cause; the same green creature from before stared back at him with frightened red orbs. Greg bobbled his head back and forth, his eyes fixed upon the hybrid creature, while its eyes in turn followed the wavering noggin opposite of their position.

Greg shook his head violently and stood up on his feet, and weakly tossed the green creature in an intentionally random direction. "[Now!]" the girl's voice resounded, only partially noticed by a still somewhat disoriented Greg. He brushed the grass off his pant legs and turned around to face a brown, furry monster towering over him. Greg gradually moved his head upwards, analyzing the creature to be some sort of angry bear; much more suited to bipedal movement. Before Greg could react, the bear snatched Greg up into its paws, which didn't even wrap completely around Greg's body. Nails like that of teeth dug into Greg's back slightly piercing the epidermis. Greg held in his shrieks of pain, instead deciding to squeak slight grunts of discomfort. Upon surveying the very limited viewpoint of his current elevated locale, he noticed the girl from before smiling a few feet away, strolling in his direction. "[Thank you Ursaring.]" the girl cooed. In the corner of Greg's eye, he saw her walking in front of the Ursaring and away from his current vision line. However he still easily heard her voice, though still not understanding a single word of it. "[Chikorita! You okay?]"

"Chi...ka..." it mumbled, slightly dizzy.

"[Okay, wanna take a rest?]" the girl asked sympathetically

"Chi." it sighed stoically.

"[Okay.]" the girl said calmly. Greg struggled to turn his head to see the current situation, but his neck's limits of contortion prevented him from rotating his neck more than a ninety degree angle. _Let me go...let me go!_ Greg furiously thought, trying to muster up the oxygen to yell the phrase. The only sounds that he heard however, were the slight rustle of tree branches, the breathing of the guardian bear, and the sound of the laser that he now knew came from a red and white sphere. He heard the grass rub against the surface of feet, or shoes, and anticipated a lecture from the girl behind him. Instead, he stood still, only catching the infrequent yet pungent odor from the monstrous bear's breath. Greg would occasionally glance at the bear's face. Every time, he saw an emotionless scowl staring over him, presumably at the girl behind him, and not something else. The bear's movements since its initial snatching were minimal and gradual.

Not much time passed when suddenly the imprisoning bear's grip weakened, releasing Greg's entrapment. Greg slipped through the open grip and fell onto the ground on his feet. Greg quickly lost his balance and stumbled around a few steps before collapsing against a nearby tree. Greg shook his head and rolled his eyeballs about, regaining his composure. "[Ursaring?]" Greg stretched his arms out, only to drop them in utter shock. The giant bear had tipped, its face frozen in agony, and started to cascade. It hit the ground flat on its face, and lay sprawled out. "What happe-" Greg squeaked.

"[URSARING!]" Greg sharply torqued his head to the right, his disorientation fading quickly. _Her!_ he thought. The girl was stunned, gawking at her fallen bear and paying no attention to Greg. She rushed to the creature, her cobalt bucket hat falling off in the process. Greg watched it lightly float to the cushion of grass below, landing with barely a sound. "[Are you okay? Answer me Ursaring!]" the girl frantically shrieked. Greg flinched, closing his eyes to rebel against the dissonant panic. A low rumbling growl ceased the shrieking, and Greg opened his eyes. The girl had her ear adjacent to the bear's nose, and nodded during the split second Greg had focused on them. _She's...putting it away._ The girl took another red and white sphere from her belt, enacting the familiar procedure of transporting the creature into it. _Now's my chance..._ Greg broke out into a sprint once the girl stood up straight. _She'll pay for injuring it._ He inhaled deep breaths through his nostrils, and exhaled through his clenched teeth. The girl, her ears twitching slightly, spun her torso about-face. Her eyes dilated at the sight of the boy adjacent to her, reaching his hand and grabbing her shirt, pulling her closer. "You...you'll PAY!" he barked.

"[S-stop! Put me down now!]" she squirmed.

"Shut it!" Greg roared, tightening his left hand into a ball and pulling it back. His fist, his arm, and his entire body all trembled, quivering rapidly with short bursts of more-noticeable shaking. "Just, sh-shut it!" he screeched, his voice cracking at the end. His fist did not move from its position. The girl's face was frozen in fear. Greg's face was twisted into a pathetic excuse for intimidation, contorting his mouth into a parabolic arc, scrunching his eyebrows as much as he could, and flaring his nostrils. Gales of breath sped between his clenched teeth, hissing every second.

But the arm did not launch. He remained in this position, continuing his actions, while his face's expressions lessened marginally. His grip, while remaining tenacious proportionate to his aims, loosened, assuaging the girl's fears. Greg's breaths slowed, now swirling in and out through open jaws. Greg's eyes departed their pit of intensity, returning to a halcyon state.

However, this was not to remain.

"[Ah, now I see.]" an adult male's voice echoed, striking from above. "[How...bland.]" Greg swiftly released his grip, swiveling his head to face the treetops. "What? Who's there?" Greg yelled impulsively.

"[Only English...]" the voice sighed, "[Isn't that just pathetic madam?]"

"Indeed." a female voice responded, barely audible enough for the teenagers below to hear.

"Indeed...what!" Greg squawked, moving his eyes a few notches upward, upon which he backed up and angled his neck even more backward. _Those two...they understand both languages...oddly dressed as they are..._ The bilingual duo stood on a rigid and bulky branch, both elegantly dressed despite their location; the man with the black hair (and yellow center of said black hair) sported a dark tuxedo and violet slacks and a pair of spectacles, the woman a simple pink dress and white blouse, along with a massive mane of light brown hair which flowed down her drooping arms. "[You...you two are...]" the girl next to Greg stuttered, her crimson sleeves vibrating along with her trembling arms.

"[Hush.]" the man glared at her, then swiveled his pupils back to Greg. "[Now, back to business.]"

"Yes. We must complete the mission." the lady mumbled. Greg bit his lip. _Mission? What mission? Why am I more confused than when I couldn't understand these people at all?_ he pondered frantically.

"[Darach and Catilin...]" the girl stammered.

The man swiveled his eyes back, "[WHAT DID I SAY YOU INSOLENT GIRL?]" The girl whimpered in response, opening her mouth to speak, only to have a faint squeak of air pop and fizzle. "[Catilin, what should I do with her?]" the man sighed, turning his head towards the lady. Catilin slowly closed her eyes, entering relaxed thinking state like a bodhisattva. Finally she opened her eyes, quickly this time, and her original calm expression was instead piercing with anger, "Drown her." she growled.

Greg widened his eyes. _Drown...her...oh no. OH NO!_ Greg didn't hesitate, in grabbing the girl's arm after seeing the man reach into his pocket and pull out a red and white sphere. Greg fled into the woods with the girl, away from the duo, nearly dragging her along; her aquamarine backpack almost flew off immediately, but she snatched it with her lagging hand, while Greg in turn snatched his backpack and duffel bag from the ground with his free hand; slowing down to place the backpack and duffel bag in more easily manageable spots for his getaway; his back and shoulder unsurprisingly. An unknown blast whizzed right by nearly incinerating Greg, instead hitting a tree trunk. A glimpse of the source showed itself to be an orange laser beam, according to Greg's perspective. Greg heard the brief clunk of the tree's complete loss of balance, and then quickly torqued his head to face the enormous tree nearly a foot away from his face.

However, a quick blurry cream-colored motion smashed into the trunk, landing on the ground. Greg stopped running, looking to see the cause of his rescue. To his shock, a creature with a tall, fuzzy, spherical torso stood holding the tree in its coffee colored boxing glove-shaped hands. "What the-" Greg gasped, noticing an odd entity spinning rapidly enough that it appeared as a drill.

"BRRRAAA!" the creature growled, unbeknownst to Greg turning its eyes towards the emerging "drill." The spherical fuzzy creature threw the tree into the air, and leapt up the same height, yet behind the tree trunk. In its flight, it spun, stretching its foot out when it reached the trunk's height, kicking the tree like a cannon, rocketing the tree into the approaching "drill." The result was messy. A swarm of splinters spread from the tornado, scattering around the forest floor. Greg broke his vision away from the spectacle and yanked the girl, also entranced by the creatures, along with him into the clearing at the edge of the forest. _No...no time...must...must be safe!_ Greg thought. "BRRRRRAAAAAAAH!" the creature shrieked, this time soaked with pain. Greg shook his head and kept running forward, then frantically looking for a place to run. _The city? The mountain? The water? The city seems like the best place to go!_ Greg turned towards the city and fled in that direction, still holding on to the girl's arm, who at this point had decided to just run with him. aware of the danger she was in. "Kid! Stop!" a voice boomed, an adult male's voice, but much lower in pitch than the Tuxedo-man. Greg hesitated, but he turned around anyway. A shirtless, chubby, muscular man stood at an angle towards the forest with his face pointed towards Greg. Greg in turn was baffled. _I...what...how do...no way...what..._ Greg's mouth was agape, completely flustered as to the current ridiculousness of the situation combined with the extreme terror he felt within his very soul. "Wh...what!" Greg managed to stutter. At that point, two creatures rocketed out of the woods, into the air, and on their backs in front of the chubby muscle man. They somewhat humanoid, the closest one looking like some sort of deformed boxer complete with boxing gloves for hands, while the other was egg-shaped and had legs taller than its torso. The man quickly glanced at both, then back at Greg. "Into the mountain! Now!" Greg nodded and about-faced, bursting into a sprint towards an open cave inside of the large mountain formerly behind him.

"[Chuck!]" the girl exclaimed stepping towards him.

"[No time! Follow the boy into the mountain!]" the man replied, taking out another red and white sphere from his karate-pants.

"[But...]" she gulped.

"[NOW!]" Chuck barked at her. The girl also nodded, and turned around, dashing into the cave behind Greg. Chuck then threw the red and white sphere onto the ground, "[Breloom, block the cave entrance, quickly!]"

Greg bent down and clutched his knees inside the dank and murky cave, catching his breath. He turned his head and saw the girl from before staring at him. Something else caught his eye though. Rocks from the top of the cave mouth were falling, obstructing the entrance and the exit simultaneously. Greg widened his eyes, and dropped his jaw, and uttered a single word, "No..."


End file.
